Mayor Cory Booker ‘preparing’ for Senate run

File Photo: Newark Mayor Cory Booker attends the "Friends with Benefits" premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater on July 18, 2011 in New York City.

Jemal Countess/Getty Images, File

Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, N.J., tells msnbc’s Chris Jansing he’s “preparing for a run” for U.S. Senate but is still not ready to declare his candidacy.

“I’m doing what’s necessary to prepare for a candidacy, obviously,” Booker said Friday on Jansing & Co. “I’m preparing for a run, have not made any announcements yet.”

The Democratic mayor filed paperwork earlier this year with the Federal Election Commission. This week he said any official announcement will come after this year’s gubernatorial race in New Jersey.

The Wall Street Journalpoints out that only 20 mayors have been elected to the Senate within a year of serving in their cities.

“I’m preparing for that opportunity,” Booker told msnbc’s Chris Jansing. “And after the governor’s race and legislative races in New Jersey, one election at a time, I’ll be happy to come on your show and talk about, definitively, what I’m going to do.”